The 21st annual Back to School Clothing Drive will wrap up Thursday at GCU as more than 5,000 underprivileged Valley elementary school students received free clothes and school supplies through the nonprofits massive volunteer operation. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey joined the event this morning, helping kids to pick out some fresh threads that suit them for the upcoming school year. GCU Today has more about the governor’s visit and the event’s impact on helping children see what higher education looks like.

Like nearly everything on campus, Grand Canyon University’s Honors College is growing fast. The college, which changed from the Honors Institute to Honors College in June, will have a total enrollment of more than 700 students this fall, 11 times its size at inception three years ago, including 467 incoming freshmen with an average GPA of 4.16. Also new this year, Camelback Hall will be the first dedicated housing for Honors students on campus. The rapid growth has brought added benefits to students and increased GCU’s status as a quality academic institution.

Grand Canyon University’s public history program is only one year old, yet its students have already landed internships in museums and historic preservation offices in Arizona and other states. The program is designed to prepare students to work as preservationists, museum curators, community archivists and other careers where their history knowledge is used for the greater good.

More than 20 middle school and high school girls in Grand Canyon University’s all-female STEM academic camp braved the searing hot weather Wednesday as they cooked brownies in solar ovens on the Promenade by the Student Union.

If you’d like to chat about ion implantation in microchips, wonder how circuit boards work, or would just like to shoot the breeze about engineering in general, Dr. Melissa Trombley is the person to speak with. Trombley, who goes by “Mel,” joined Grand Canyon University recently as lead faculty on the new electrical engineering program, which opens to students in August. She brings 10 years of experience from Intel, where she worked on massive, multimillion-dollar equipment used to manufacture computer semiconductors.

Eight members of Grand Canyon University’s chapter of the AzHOSA health care professions organization are off to Anaheim, Calif., today to compete in HOSA’s 38th annual National Leadership Conference, where they will face some of the top students of pre-med and other health care undergraduate programs from around the U.S.

Claude Pensis, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Productions, Bill Symington, assistant dean and stage designer, and Michael Kary, assistant professor and play director, have put GCU on the map for collegiate theatre in the West Valley, but Pensis et. al. may have outdone themselves with this year’s Ethington Theatre lineup, which has something everyone can enjoy. From Shakespeare to Dr. Seuss, every play in the 2015-16 series is a must-see according to Pensis. And with a stage and costume design plan that is expected to be one of the biggest in University history, we couldn’t agree more. “We’re going to have fun with the plays. It’s going to be an adventure for the actors, directors and the audiences,” Pensis said.

Dr. Jean Mandernach has an impressive list of accomplishments especially in the world of academia, having published more than 85 scholarly journal articles and 11 book chapters on online education. But her most recent accomplishment may be her best. Mandernach co-authored “Evaluating Online Teaching: Implementing Best Practices,” the first comprehensive book focusing on measuring quality of online teaching, with Dr. Thomas Tobin of Southeastern Illinois University and Dr. Ann Taylor of Penn State University. The book currently is ranked No. 1 in two Amazon categories.

Dr. Melanie D. Logue, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, is joining the 11-member Arizona State Board of Nursing. Gov. Doug Ducey recently appointed Logue, a GCU alumna who has 25 years of nursing practice and education under her belt, to a five-year term. GCU Today has the details.